Hi Everyone,

I have been having a problem with noise in the pully belt part of the car for a few months now. Its only AUDIBLE during the first 10 minutes of driving so its quite clear whose car is making the hissing noise at the stop light. If I REV the motor up a few times it will go away or diminish and then everyone can see its that ford making making the noise.
I took it to the garage and the mechanic told me it was a pulley/bearing noise from the assembly on the left of the motor and above the oil filter. He used a "s t ethoscope" like device near the bearing but wasn't sure which one was causing the problem.
Has anyone had this problem before and fixed it themselves. I can't seem to figure out which one of the pulley's is causing the problem, since there are 4/5 of them. I'm hoping it will not cost over $100 to fix this.



The picture above shows the set of pulleys. Please excuse the crappy picture quality and the dirty inside. I guess I will be doing the engine cleaning thingy this weekend since beauty is what on the inside also

It's probably your tensioner pulley (arrow 3 from the top in your picture). They can go bad and are around ~ $50.00. If you've got any mechanical experience this is something you should try to do yourself. However, if you've driven through any high water you may suspect your A/C compressor too. In any event, I'd remove the tensioner and the belt associated with it - run your engine and see if the noise is gone. If it is gone, it's either the tensioner, the alternator, or the compressor causing the noise - you should be able to spin each of those by hand and hear if they are making noise. If the noise is still there, I'd suspect your ps pump or the main crank pulley (unlikely).

thanks I will check on those.

The noise comes without the AC on, I rarely use the AC - good weather outside. Right when I start the car. I have seen the ac compressor noise before on other cars and I checked for that on mine and its not the compressor. I think its the tensioner as you suggested.

Thanks

did you try tightening the belt? maybe it has some slack in it.

Yah, I think I managed to fix it. I reinstalled some of the pulleys and cleaned the screw threads. Thanks

I have the same noise..was it a easy fix..how much did it cost to fix?

I didn't replace any parts. I was going to replace the belts but decided not to do that just yet.

So it cost me nothing. Just some tools to loosen the pulleys and clean around the area and put them back in. Its been a week and no noise so far.

I am thinking of doing this myself, instead of going to a mechanic., what
tool (s) what I need to perform this?..can you give a step by step instructions on how to do this..any help would be greatly appreciated..Thanks!

I Have The Same Exact Problem As You I Have A 96 Max First I Got The Belts Changed Didnt Fix The Nose, Then Got The Tensioner Fixed, Stil The Noise Came On, Then They Used The Thing To Listen And They Chnaged The Alternator And The Noise Stopped, It Was A Bad Bearing Inside The Alternator Or Something. Wish You Luck Hope You Dont Go Throught The Same Pain I Did.

I changed my alt with a rebuilt one only 2 months ago..I was actually thinking it was a bad bearing inside the alt..It could be they sold me a faulty alternator..however , I know they won't take it back as long as the battery is charging..Im taking it to a mechanic tomorrow..I'll keep u guys posted.

I took it to a mechanic. He put on a "s t e t hoscope" looking thing on and went through each bearing and found the right one that was causing it.

yes me too. a write up on this would be NICE! thanks

yeah the mechanic did the same thing with the stesticope thing. does ur car make the noise all the time or only when the car is full warmed up? mine only does it when it is fully warmed up

Would lubing them help or did the mechanic say they had to be changed because they might fail? If there's no danger of them failing I would try lubing them first. I wash my engine regularly and use degreaser on my fluid lines, which may be the problem you guys have as well.

It is you tensioner. Mine was doing the same thing. I put on a new one and it only solved the problem for about 6 months and is doing the same thing again. It will stop after it warms up. I have been just lubing it with WD-40 or PB Blaster, that stops it for awhile.

Its a good chance its your AC compressor. it was for me. Take off the belt and spin the pullies by hand, which ever doesnt spin smoothly is probably the bad one.